NEXT! The next sport on TV’s desperate agenda appears to be golf. It, too, seems to have been designated for destruction. Cross-promotion – corporate synergy – and the stop-at-nothing quest to attract younger viewers have begun to shove competitive golf from view.

Three weeks ago, during the Bob Hope Classic, ABC’s high-priority, on- site effort was to sell ABC’s “Bachelorette.” A featured bachelorette, as if by magic, even showed up on the course, where she was interviewed by Terry Gannon – while a PGA event was being contested a few feet away.

The next weekend, ABC’s coverage of the FBR, formerly known as the Phoenix Open – a tournament infamous for drawing legions of the young, loud and drunk – was produced as if it were MTV’s coverage of “Boys Gone Wild.”

ABC golf host Mike Tirico, in several tortured rationalizations, even tried to advance the notion that 100,000-plus loaded yahoos in the gallery makes for fun and is good for golf. Finally, boothmate Curtis Strange had heard enough, abruptly stating that it isn’t.

Throughout its Phoenix coverage, ABC presented what might be described as a “Hunk Cam,” which focused on young pro Ricky Barnes. At one point, on-course reporter Judy Rankin was sent into the bleachers, where she had two young women testify as to – ooooh! – how cute Barnes is.

ABC’s transparency in these endeavors is both pathetic and dangerous. If there’s an audience that tunes to a sport to watch that sport – and nothing else – it’s a golf audience. Golf fans, of all ages, don’t like being sandbagged.

This past Saturday, CBS’s coverage of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was little more than a CBS infomercial and a bad joke. CBS is annually criticized for its self-serving coverage of this event – and every year CBS’s coverage grows more self-serving.

Outside of Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh, the golfers who received the most attention were William Petersen (CBS’s “CSI”), Ray Romano (CBS’s “Everyone Loves Raymond”), Kevin James (CBS’s “King of Queens”) and Leslie Moonves (CEO of CBS).

And while none of the above was unexpected, CBS this year took it even further. After chatting with Petersen, CBS cut further from the golf – to video clips from CSI. Petersen later reappeared in a second on-course interview, this time along with Moonves. Somewhere on the course, a PGA event was being played, but how many of those who had tuned in to see that had already tuned out?

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A taped spot for Black History Month – seen (MSG) and heard (WFAN) during Saturday’s Knicks-Heat, found Penny Hardaway speaking of Jesse Owens’ accomplishments “at the 1926 Olympics.” Ugh. How does a mistake like that get by, then get on?

NBC’s cut to the studio for a “Sports Update,” Saturday, was nothing of the sort. Rather, end-to-end, it was an Al Trautwig-anchored promo for the Arena Football League (its seasonal debut on NBC was the next day). Mr. Trautwig can also be seen on MSG, where he occasionally lectures on journalism.

ESPN Radio-NY’s Michael Kay still has a bad case of the “me-sles.” Last week, he conducted an on-air contest that asked listeners to write limericks, “about me.” Hmmm. What rhymes with egocentric? . . . Rutgers-Seton Hall, Saturday night on MSG. Those were the Scarlet Knights – in the black uniforms.

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There’s an old gag about the kid whose room was always a terrible mess, no matter how often and how hard his parents urged him to clean it. His parents grew so desperate that they sent him to a psychiatrist. Ten sessions and $2,500 later, you know what the psychiatrist discovered? The kid’s a slob.

To a similarly obvious end, St. John’s is merely suffering an acute case of what all Division I basketball programs, to some extent, suffer – and have for decades suffered from and will continue to suffer from.

It’s simple: St. John’s can have a compromised program and win. It can have a compromised program and lose. But it’s almost impossible to have a clean program and win. And compromise (a.k.a., racketeering) begins the day kids who otherwise wouldn’t be admitted to the school – and/or have no other business being at the school – are recruited to play ball for the school.

And that’s both the root and route of virtually all Div. I scandals. Always has been, always will be.